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Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Baseball America Talks About Arnett and Bashore

Thanks for the heads up on this one New Hoosier Fan. I actually submitted this question!

"Eric Arnett is now expected to go in the first five rounds of the draft.""He [Bashore] could still go even higher than Arnett in the draft." -Baseball America

Going into this season, most thought Matt Bashore was the Indiana University pitcher to watch from a draft perspective. Eric Arnett, however, is quietly becoming the ace of the Hoosier staff. With a 6-foot-5 frame and a fastball that hit 94 mph in the ninth inning of a complete game performance in his last outing, where do you see him going in the draft? What about Bashore?

Arnett has been a major bright spot for an Indiana club that got off to a disappointing 12-17 start. Through seven starts, Arnett is 6-1, 2.17 with 51 strikeouts and 14 walks in 54 innings. He has led the Hoosiers to a pair of huge wins over Big Ten contenders over the last two weeks, first striking out 10 in a nine-inning complete game against Minnesota, then allowing just one run in a 10-inning complete game against Illinois. The 6-foot-5, 225-pound junior righthander has improved his velocity as the year progressed and is climbing his way up draft charts. He now seems likely to go inside the top five rounds, if not higher.

"He’s interesting because of the physicality," a National League area scout said of Arnett. "He’s imposing out there; he’s durable. You can pretty much pencil in seven to eight innings out of him every time he walks out there. He’s proven himself to be pretty durable."

Bashore has been far more inconsistent, going 1-3, 6.08 with 42 strikeouts and 16 walks in 37 innings over eight starts. But he’s a 6-foot-3, 200-pound lefthander with solid stuff, and he could still go even higher than Arnett in the draft.

"He’s interesting because he’s competitive," the scout said of Bashore. "He hasn’t been dominant by any means this year, but the games I’ve seen, his team’s been in the game late into starts. But the competitiveness is kind of what you like more than the stuff at this point. He’s throwing a slider and a curveball, and he kind of gets caught in between on both of them. The breaking ball kind of spins a bit. But when he’s down in the zone, he’s all right. I’ve seen him pitch a lot at 88-89, and I’ve seen him up to 92. He pitches mainly at 89, and he’ll show you 90-91 when he reaches back. He’ll throw probably 10 90s up there in the course of a game, so it’s in there."